HomeMy WebLinkAboutC.054.93011_1737 (2)Commissioner Williams then made the following comments:
"At the risk of being labeled anti -schools, or as a person not caring for our children, I
have certain issues with this proposal and the county going into $106 million additional debt
without at least some vote from the people. I've been a strong supporter of this school system for
my whole adult life, especially in the last twenty years. 1 have problems with this type and
amount of debt. I've been discussing this same issue with the people in the school system for the
last couple of years, and I've had the assurance that we would see a COPS of something maybe
half of this with the remainder being issued in GO bonds -- voter approved. I've said many times
that I have problems going into debt or voting for COPs that are more than $45 million. I think
that's about the maximum we've done, or maybe $50 million a couple years ago. I still have a
problem spending that amount of money without some vote of approval. I don't have a problem
with the plan, or the schools in the plan. 1 support every one of them. I would support the
money for it, but 1 don't support the way we are going about doing this. Thank you. "
Commissioner Tice said the proposal was developed by the School Facilities Task Force,
and that Chairman Norman, Commissioner Johnson, Susan Blumenstein and Joel Mashburn had
served on it. She said the task force had recommended for the county to move ahead with the
COPS, along with the terms and conditions.
Chairman Norman said this was correct.
Commissioner Johnson said Mrs. Tice was right, and it started out with the complete task
force with only facility needs being reviewed. He said there was an intent to keep the facility
needs "divorced" from how to pay for the construction. Johnson said subsequent to deciding the
priorities, the committee consisting of Mr. Norman, himself, Mr. Mashburn, Mrs. Blumenstein,
Dr. Holliday, Kay Fulp, Dr. Cash, along with Rob Jackson and Kenny Miller, who attended the
meetings in an advisory capacity met together. He said public-private partnerships, General
Obligation Bonds, and COPs were discussed as possible financing methods as well as a
combination. Johnson said the group felt the public-private partnership legislation needed some
work before it would be beneficial. He said the group looked at using both COPS and GO bonds
but had this been recommended many of the services would have been paid for twice, especially
the legal work. Johnson said he understood the apprehension, but the projects were needed. He
said that if the county wanted to propose a GO bond that didn't require a tax increase, the public
would vote for it. He said that if $40 million were approved by the voters, and there was a $40
million COPS, the county was still $80 million in debt, but the difference was that many lawyers
had been paid twice. Johnson said another aspect, of note, was that on more than one of the
projects there was already a construction crew mobilized. He said the school officials had said
this would eliminate any mobilization fee, and a continuance of contract could be implemented.
Johnson said these expenses could be eliminated, and with all things considered, when looking at
$80 million, it was a large amount of money, but the task force felt the cost to do it otherwise
was substantially higher.
Chairman Norman said prior to this decision the task force consisted of community
representatives residing throughout the county. He said the plan had been "tweaked" several
times because of growth and changing demographics. Norman said the process didn't start
"yesterday," rather it had been going on for more than a year. Chairman Norman reminded
everyone that Mooresville Graded would receive $26 million out of the COPs.
Commissioner Williams said all through the process, questions had been asked on how
the construction would be funded. Williams said that in September when the $90 million to
proceed was approved, he had asked the school officials about the funding source. He said no
one had ever explained to him how the projects would be funded. Williams said he didn't feel
the county should go into this type of debt without voter approval.
Johnson said Mr. Williams' beliefs were respected, but more money would be spent if the
financing was split into different methods.
Williams said about four years ago, the board was told that over a hundred million dollars
in projects could be done, and it wouldn't cost anything. He said at that time, the proposal was
laughed at, but now the board was doing it.